Most of the first writing I did was persuasive writing – convincing a professor, I had learned the course material, or the US government to award a contact to my boss. Or, I wrote up some of results of the contracts our company won. The professors were not always convinced; but I did land a few contracts.
Back then, I survived essays and research and proposal writing because I could outline and diagram sentences. I also liked reading dictionaries and the Thesaurus. So, I was hired as an editor and technical writer because I could spot more errors in grammar than others and I knew how to arrange and rearrange words, though with unexceptional ability. I was young – and it was during the 1960’s-- I wasn’t self-conscious about the magnitude of my lack of knowledge.
But I knew I was not yet a writer.
A writer is one who uses the same twenty-six letters of the alphabet I use, but has the ability to arrange them into words that tell the truth about the human heart.
Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne
Copy editors and proposal writers don’t write that way. Although we should read that way:
A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. ~William Stunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918
Digesting this little handbook with additions by E.B. White and his stepson Roger Angell is hearty fare for all kinds of writers, new ones, or those in need of refreshment – no matter some folks’ disapproval of the guide. (See
the naysayers.) Mr. White described writing this way:
Writing is both mask and unveiling. He also advised, “The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.”
A concise explanation of why good writing is so fun to read and oh so harder to do.
Like a mirror, writing reflects a writer’s hopes, failures and deficiencies. Usually, however, we only glance in a mirror – turning away when we are finished or frustrated. Writing means looking at the reflection – warts and all of the writer’s abilities and limitations.
The hardest, but most startling thing about writing electronically is seeing the words appear on the screen that only moments before were swirling around in my mind and heart, filtered through my old English major sensibilities appear in black and white – underlined in red or green, depending on the error they convey, spelling or grammar. Keyboarding doesn’t supplant journaling –or scribbling – for so, too, putting pen to paper is a great delight.
Writing is scary – but it is a dread I love to hate.
Writing is like looking in a mirror: some days I see clearly -- but on others, not so much. Writing about what I am learning in Scripture is a great vision corrector and solace. Reading and writing help me make sense of life that is precious and precarious -- delightful and quite dangerous.
"Reading makes a full [woman]; conference a ready man; and writing an exact [woman]."(Sir Francis Bacon, 1561-1626
Of Studies.)
Two years ago, I finally posted on the blog I secured in the year 2005. Other friends who had blogs praised this vehicle; I sat cowed for four years. It took me longer to learn how to use this dimension of the Internet than e-mail or discussion board – or even keyboarding. But coping with the move was a great motivator. And I posted
Uprooted, as we moved.
I took time, read and tried to understand the directions (which are more straightforward when I began to understand the words than the MLA Handbook) and put together one page. Next, I started going to "next blog" wondering how they did all their artwork. A few weeks ago while fiddling with all the templates and commands, I got to where I am now.
My daughter helped me transfer photos from my camera to the computer -- and I learned how to put them on the blog. The delight has been seeing all my photos whenever I work on the computer – and now being able to share them with others – the happiest moments of my life, illustrated – illustrated faster than I can type the words.
Almost 200 entries later, I am not yet an
exact woman—but I surely know what I don’t know!
Included is a popular YouTube that captures how challenging this process has been.
God has used many women in my family to teach me about life, and His power, mysteries and purposes – sometimes the lessons were wise examples; others were heart-breaking warnings. All of these women are gone – their friendship and interest in me changed me. None of them deliberately developed any lesson plans – but the consistency of their world-views created indelible instruction. 
I talked with a computer tonight! Didn’t Captain Kirk do that? I had a perfectly intelligible conversation with people half-way round the world. Lieutenant Uhura could not have arranged a better connection! The idea that a computer has the capacity to “read” what is wrong in an enclosed case thousands of miles away is what all those “Star Trek” computers did, high above the earth.
During the exchange, I inspect, sort and relinquish stuff that no longer serves its purpose: making m look presentable. And the process reminds me I really am the princess of quite a lot! It reminds me to ask:
Our natural problems are affecting the whole country – much the way the church’s failures harm even those who are unchurched, hiding the light with which God entrusted us, and we all stumble. (Isaiah 1) I don’t know why this section of the country – part of the “Bible Belt”– is so literally and perilously parched – for we surely have deep wells of sound preaching! But, I know that being thirsty for righteousness, according to Christ, is a blessing -- for those will be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6) And I know many hungry, thirsty people! How’s our prayer life? 
